13 February 2008

The last ever BACEE meeting

On Tuesday evening I attended an Extraordinary General Meeting of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE) which was called to agree the closure of the company following the withdrawal of grants by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Friends in high-places have failed to reverse the decision, as have debates in parliament and articles in the national press, so now it is over.

If there are any glimmers of hope they come from the agreement with UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) to hold an annual lecture under the BACEE banner and to maintain the BACEE archive so that researchers have access to it.

And any quick review of the news in Europe (e.g. Russia threatening to point missiles at Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine) shows that there is the need for somebody to do the work that BACEE did so well.

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